3.6.3 Institutional credits for a degree

The majority of credits toward a graduate or a post-baccalaureate professional degree are earned through instruction offered by the institution awarding the degree. In the case of graduate and post-baccalaureate professional degree programs offered through joint, cooperative, or consortial arrangements, the student earns a majority of credits through instruction offered by the participating institutions. (See Commission policy “The Transfer or Transcripting of Academic Credit.”) (Institutional credits for a degree)

Judgment of Compliance

Compliant

Narrative

Sam Houston State University ensures that the majority of credits toward a graduate or post-baccalaureate professional degree are earned through instruction offered by Sam Houston State University by limiting the number of hours that may be transferred from other institutions. The University has clear policies regarding the transfer of credit from other institutions [1]. Students may only transfer courses with a grade of “B” or higher. In addition, graduate programs can accept no more than the following hours toward a graduate degree at Sam Houston State University:

The limited number of allowable transfer credits is far less than 50% of the degree requirements. The information about transfer credits is disseminated to students through the admission process by graduate advisors and the entire university community through online posting of academic policies and the graduate catalog [2][3].

To process a transfer of courses from another institution, graduate advisors complete a Grade/Degree Transfer Request Form and submit it to the Office of Graduate Studies [4][5]. These requests must be approved by the Academic Dean and the Dean of Graduate Studies. To ensure current knowledge, only in rare instances may courses older than six years be approved for transfer. If approved, the Sam Houston State University equivalent to the course listed on the form will be included on the official transcript.

Sam Houston State University has only one joint graduate program: the Doctor of Jurisprudence and Doctor of Philosophy degree in the College of Criminal Justice. The Doctor of Jurisprudence and Doctor of Philosophy is a joint degree program created in 2004 by the College of Criminal Justice and the University of Houston Law Center. A student who successfully completes this program concurrently earns a Doctor of Philosophy in Criminal Justice from Sam Houston State University and a Doctor of Jurisprudence from the University of Houston Law Center [6]. The joint program prepares students for professional practice in arenas in which law and criminal justice intersect and complement each other. This degree program provides students with greater flexibility in their chosen field [7]. For this degree, all courses for the Doctor of Philosophy in Criminal Justice are taken at Sam Houston State University while the courses for the Jurisprudence degree are taken at the University of Houston Law Center.